, 1887-07-26
A TALK ABOUT PARROTS.
The Best Varieties and How to AXE
Care of Them-overfed Birds.

Care of Them-overfed Birds.
The parrot population of this city is es.
timated at 20, 900. The Pollys, as they
are all called without distinction of sex,
are interesting subjects of study. There
are good parrots and bad parrots, just as
there are good children and bad children.
The bad parrot is one which has not for
gotten the harsh, discordant screams of
parrot language in the tropical forests
and INDUCES in them throughout the
lvelong day. He is also the possessor of
a limited vocabulary of the '.Polly wants
a cracker style, whose endless ~reitera-
ton is even more aggravatingly annoy
ing han his natural screeching and chat
tering. A bird like this in the early
morning can make the seeker for an ex-
ira nap believe that $1,000 parrots is too
small an estimate of the city's parrot
population.
The screeching nuisance can be dis
couraged and ultimately reformed by
j~udiciously administering punishments.
The vocabulary can be extended and
made interesting by careful training, INC
some melodious and tuneful whistling
may be taught by a pleasant adjunct to
the spoken word. Then the bad parrot
having become good, hard feelings will
disappear from the neighborhood. The
reason there are SO few good parrots is
found in the great mortality among
these birds. While in the process of ref
ormation and education they die in such
great numbers that a steady stream of
recruits is necessarily kept coming into
the country. The result is to keep Town
the proportion of good parrots, birds that
a talk considerably, swear intelligently,
sing something and whistle tunes.
A ranortar ho1 hic attant;on ottroctaJ
by a fine parrot in front of jefferson
market he other day. Stopping to look
at it his thoughts reverted to the appal-
ling death rate among parrots, and he
was plying the pretty fellow when the
latter suddenly perked his mead sideways
with the question, "What's the matter
with you, hey?" followed by a burst of
uproarious laughter. The owner of the
parrot, John Morris, the florist, was for
years a bird ~fancier, though he does not
now keep birds for sale. Mr.. Morris
talked entertainingly.
"Sam is a very smart bird" said he.
81 call him Sam for short. His full name
is Samuel j. Randall. When you are
disposed to pity Sam on account of any
impression on your part that he is in any
danger of losing his excellent health, you
are away off. l ave three other parrots
in just as good shape. 1t is the effect of
their care and diet. They get no bread,
no coffee, no fruit, no vegetables, no
hemp seed, and especially no meat. They
do get plenty of good, plain canary seed,
water, and a liberal supply of sand and
gravel. Two-thirds of the mortality
among parrots comes from overfeed-
ing. Some years ago 1 came to this
conclusion, The birds that came to me,
sick and feverish, with ragged, dull and
dirty plumage, were so evidently suffer
ing from dyspepsia that overlooking was
the first thought as to the cause. In
their confined state, having little or no
exercise, they suffer if they are stuffed
with rich, heavy food.
1t occurred to me that canary seed
contained all the necessary elements of
nourishment in a simple, easily digestible
form. / determined to make the expert
ment. a sick parrot that was brought
in to mo was chosen as a promising sub
ject. He had suffered from dyspepsia
for months, and was a miserable looking
bird, that seemed bound to die anyway.
/ thought he might as well die testing my
treatment as to perish in the old fash
toned way of being stuffed to death. 1
put him in a clean cage and for twenty
four hours put no food of any kind in the
cups. Then 1 put in q little hemp seed,
SO that the bird would neither starve nor
get enough to eat. The hemp seed lasted
only o part of the day, and the next
morning l put in some canary seed.
When the hemp seed was gone that day
the bird began picking at and playing
with the canary seed. In a day or two
he had learned to crack and eat it. Then
1 gradually lessened the quantity of hemp
seed, and after q while supplied nothing
but the canary seed.
Old bird fanciers shook their heads and
said the bird could not live IN canary
seed alone, and that 1 was bound to lose
him. But l persevered, and the result
justified me. The bird steadily improved
in condition and plumage. l have since
repeated the treatment many times with
the same success, and have adopted ca
nary seed as the standard and sole food
for my parrots. Several fanciers and
ladies who nave seen my birds tried it,
too, and l tell you of it for the benefit Of
the public"
do parrots have to be kept in q very
warm temperatureT'
THAT is the popular belief, but my
experience has been that parrots can be
made capable of enduring as much cold
as any other bird"
'Nnat Is your OPINION US W lue IuSIlIS
of the different breeds?'
There are individual exceptions, but
I think the Mexican double yellow head
is the best all round bird. He is apt to
be good tempered, and can be taught to
talk well, sing well, and whistles nicely.
The African gray, with red tail feathers,
talks well and whistles, but rarely sings.
These birds die in great numbers either
on the voyage or soon after their impor-
tation, a result largely due, l think, to
their feeding. They get soaked bread,
bread and milk, crackers, and coffee and
cracked corn. If they were trained TO
eat canary seed before shipment nine
tenths of the co~nsignments would como
through all right and keep in good condi-
ton afterward. African parrots are less
excitable than those from our tropical re-
gions, and arc more easily domesticated
and become more attached to their own
ers,
1.-THE Brazilian Yellow Neck, or Golden
Nape, is also n magnificent specimen of
the talking parrot, but he is eScitable and